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Khodorkovsky Makes an Offer
To Give Up His Stake in Yukos

Jailed Ex-CEO Proposes
Using Holdings to Help Pay
Huge Claims of Back Taxes

By

Gregory L. White and

Guy Chazan Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Updated July 8, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

MOSCOW -- High-level contacts between OAO Yukos and Russian authorities aimed at saving the oil giant from bankruptcy have picked up in recent days, as jailed billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky offered to give up his controlling stake in the company to help pay off nearly 200 billion rubles ($6.9 billion or &euro;5.6 billion) in back-tax claims against it.

People familiar with the situation say the informal dialogue with top Russian...